Nebraska Appleseed
Founded in 1996, Nebraska Appleseed is a nonprofit organization that fights for justice and opportunity for all Nebraskans. With expertise in addressing systemic problems and opportunities affecting thousands of people, we incorporate legal advocacy, community activism, and policy expertise to make a positive, sustainable difference in our four main areas of concentration – health care access, poverty, child welfare, and immigration. We take our work wherever we believe we can do the most good, whether that’s at the courthouse, in the statehouse or in the community.
THE CASE
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On August 1, 2014, the case of Leiting-Hall v. Winterer commenced. Nebraska Appleseed filed this class-action lawsuit on behalf of two clients (a working, single mother and a three-person family) who have been unlawfully delayed from receiving urgent and necessary help providing food for their families though the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), seeking to represent a class of hundreds of households that receive SNAP.
The suit is against Kerry Winterer, the CEO of Nebraska’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), and Thomas Pristow, the Director of the DHHS Division of Children and Families. Winterer and Pristow are responsible for administering SNAP in Nebraska. Throughout the state, the SNAP program helps about 175,000 Nebraskans know where their next meal is coming from. Nearly 75 percent of SNAP participants are in families with children; more than one-quarter of participants are in households with seniors or people with disabilities.
Unfortunately, DHHS has systematically failed to follow federal and state rules which require SNAP to be provided to eligible households within set timeframes. Following these timeframes is vital, because the failure to do so means that hundreds of SNAP households do not receive assistance to purchase food when they need it. The suit seeks to enforce federal timeliness requirements in order to ensure these low-income Nebraska households are able to access SNAP in a timely way.
CASE UPDATES SINCE GRANT YEAR
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Utilized their grant funds to file a class suit against the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services for failure to process food stamps within the 30-day federally mandated timeframe thereby disadvantaging hundreds of households.
Leiting-Hall v. PhilipsAfter the class was certified settlement occurred whereby the Department agreed to process 96% of the applications within 30 days and provide monthly reports to Nebraska Appleseed!
GRANT AMOUNT
$13,000 (2015)
“The Barbara McDowell Foundation’s support gave us the capacity to engage in extensive discovery and see the case through a long period of settlement negotiations so that thousands of Nebraskans have access to food stamp benefits that they need.”
— Molly McCleery, staff attorney